It’s officially one week into the 2010 baseball season and already there has been enough excitement to keep Yankee fans on the edge of their seats and ready to throw their remotes through the TV in anger. Despite the ups and downs all Yankee fans have to be happy with the result of the two series wins against AL East rivals Boston and Tampa Bay. The weekend series itself was enough to drive any fan crazy, starting with Vazquez’s horrific outing, which at first looked well on its way to becoming a gem.
I personally do not know what to make of the Vazquez situation. On one hand he pitched brilliantly for the Braves last year (2.87 ERA, 238 k’s, 219.1 IP, 1.03 WHIP), but on the other he hasn’t performed that well in the AL over his career. The real question to ask is: Was he dominate last year in the weaker hitting NL or did he find something that made him jump to elite status? Clearly this one start provides no implications on what this year will hold, Verlander, a proverbial Cy Young candidate, has been slammed in his first two starts this year, and I doubt anyone will be throwing him overboard any time soon. I truly believe that Vazquez is a great addition to the New York Yankees and will provide quality starts 90% of the time and if nothing else he will get wins and eat up a ton of innings in the process.
I do have to agree that Vazquez’s disappointing outing was definitely the low point of the series against the Rays, however the day after proved to be a high point that will be hard to reach in the coming months. CC Sabathia was flat-out dominate in his start, not giving up a hit until 2 outs into the 8th inning when Kelly Shoppach (really?) broke up the no-no with a single to left field. Sabathia, with the help of some defensive gems from A-Rod and Teixeira, took the Rays to task by only issuing the 1 hit, noted before, and 2 walks in his 7.2 innings of work. The Yankee bats weren’t too shabby either netting 10 runs in this Saturday afternoon victory. Another noteworthy accomplishment from this game was that Teixeira went 3-4 snapping a 0-19 to start the season, the longest hitless streak to start a season in his career. April woes have plagued Mark in the past and it seems that it will be a continuous trend for his entire career. New Yorker’s probably want to get on him for his slow starts however look at his 2nd half stats and the numbers he finishes with and I am positive you will stop complaining, and not for nothing he is a gold glove caliber 1st basemen to boot, so he does contribute somewhat in the early stages of the season.
Sunday proved to be a pitching duel, well at least until the 6th inning that is. Burnett and Shields both provided their teams with great pitching that had the Yankees and Rays trying to score in any fashion, for the Rays this effort came after a 2-run 1st inning. Despite allowing 9 runners on base A.J. pitched through choppy situations, with some defensive help and poor base running decisions by the Rays, and earned himself a win after a Posada 2-run homer opened up the flood gates for the Yankee bats on their way to a 7-3 victory. Shields was on fire and earned a no decision after Randy Choate came in and served up the Posada home run following a Cano double that drove the starter out of the game.
All in all a great weekend stretch for the Yankees who now own a 4-2 record and have a difficult opponent in the Angels this week followed by the offensively inept, more like dormant, Texas Rangers.
Home opener tomorrow, Pettitte faces off against Santana, preview will be up later today or early tomorrow morning.
Let’s Go Yankees!
